Atheist or Agnostic?

Erm, the latter...

Is usually just being atheist but being a dick about it. Its lesser used definition is compatible with theism to some extent in the fact that you believe in some higher power but don't like it, but I'm pretty sure there's a better term for that.

EDIT: Heh heh heh, this is why I usually don't look up terms one at a time.

edited 7th Jun '11 6:00:10 PM by Usht

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misotheism

Antitheism is not necessarily "being a dick". It's simply a proselytising form of atheism. Not all antitheists are unpleasant about it.

Added them.

Edit: Wait, hang on, so antitheism can also be synonymous with misotheism? Will correct that.

@ Aon: I don't know if there's a specific word for that. If we start defining different religions' conceptions of gods individually we'll be here forever.

edited 7th Jun '11 6:01:42 PM by BobbyG

Okay, granted Anti-theism doesn't necessary entail being mean spirited about it but I have yet to meet someone who considers him or herself Anti-theistic and isn't in my face about it.

The Misothiesim link also has more terms if we want to turn Bobby's clear and concise list into an incomprehensibly mess.

@ Usht: Longfellow is pretty nice, in my experience.

Juuustiiice! D:

No idea where to fit all those.

There's also stuff like Ignosticism and Irreligion and the point is, this sort of stuff can become very, very complicated.

Still more simple than gender and sexuality though.

Well damn! Clearly I must make a new term...to further destroy Bobby's list...

Usht: I think I'm borderline antitheistic, but I hope I'm not a dick about it.

Polydeism?

More seriously, isn't Buddhism better defined as "heavily syncretic"? i.e. Pretty much any position can be beaten into the shape of the Buddha's teachings after a while.

Religion/Irreligion strikes me as something else altogether, and much harder to categorise. Maybe I'll add it on the end.

I suppose I'd better clog up my chart with all the different ways in which people can hate God.

I dislike religion, but I don't actively try to convert people away from religion. Does that make me an anti-theist?

I'd ignore them. They're sub-categories of Misothiesim...which pretty much makes them AT LEAST a sub-category of a sub-category by your list's standards.

Some of said sub-categories look bizarrely specific...

Yes with the way that Buddhism has evolved you can basically take the core philosophy and cut everything away and add new shit in place of the old shit. Or just mix everything together into some hideous stew of doom.

Generally though Buddhism isn't monotheistic and doesn't speak of a creator god.

In my personal experience with Thai Buddhism a few gods are prayed to every now and then, but aren't strongly worshiped. They aren't talked about very often either. Ganga, Guanyin, and Hotei are the three gods I have noticed that get paid tribute. We have statues of the latter two in the wat. This makes Thai Theravada a bit of an oddball since it's one of the only two Theravadan countries that worships Bodhisattas...

edited 7th Jun '11 6:27:30 PM by Aondeug

Well, I've had a go. Even threw in theological noncognitivism, which is the real non-answer.

@ Pingu: I guess that makes you an antitheist who doesn't proselytise.

Wow, I come to TV Tropes and always find there's an exception to everything. You know, I love this place, it always has a tendency to discredit the stereotypes I accidentally make in my head and I'm all the happier because of it.

What I mean when I say that theism is "gibberish", is that because so many people have so many definitions on what exactly "god" is or isn't, that you can't really get past the definition phase. Or to be more exact, my experience is that everybody assumes that everybody else has the same definition when often they don't.

One of the problems with where the thread is that a lot of people consider atheist proselytizing to be say if someone brings up religion and their belief and someone else takes the opposite view. Also, people view atheist community building as being a form of proselytizing as well.

I don't disagree that different people worship different gods and an exact definition encompassing them all is tricky to pin down, nor that atheists are faced with a Double Standard, as we've discussed in the past.

Goddamn atheists ruining it for the rest of us.

I am an agnostic atheist.

Agnostic because I don't think there is any ways to come to a truth-knowledge on the existence of God.

Atheist because I don't believe in one.

Simple really.

I Really Want To Emphasis Though that Atheism and agnosticism really describe different things. While the opposite of atheism would be theism, the opposite to agnosticism is gnosticism. Agnosticism isn't necessarily some 'middle ground' between atheism and theism. One can be an agnostic theist as well.

edited 8th Jun '11 3:58:10 PM by Yachar

So, question for the thread...*

I usually refer to myself as "agnostic", because I like the mystery life represents and would actively turn down anyone offering answers on a silver platter. Not sure if this is the correct term though.

Sounds like a form of irreligious agnosticism to me.

Maybe agnostic theism, if liking the idea of a god means you believe in one.

AONDEUG NEEDS MORE AGNOSTIC THEISTS. We have to battle the agnostic atheists!

@ DS: If you're a fellow irreligious theist-who-isn't-a-deist, high five. Not seen many of those.

edited 8th Jun '11 7:32:14 PM by BobbyG